Death sentences
Archive theme
A death sentence is not the same thing as an execution: years can pass between the two, and the sentence may be overturned on appeal, commuted, or never carried out. Counting them separately measures two different things: how far a state resorts to capital punishment, and how far it actually applies it.
This page collects the news on death sentences handed down around the world, on the later stages of appeal, and on the sentences upheld or overturned. Executions have a page of their own.
Latest news
DECEMBER 6, 2023YemenDEATH PENALTYYEMEN: HUTHIS SENTENCE RIGHTS ACTIVIST TO DEATH
A Yemeni human rights activist has been sentenced to death on spying charges by a court in Sanaa, the country's Huthi-held capital, her lawyer told AFP on December 5, 2023.
DECEMBER 5, 2023FloridaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Florida. DNA connects death row inmate Lucious Boyd to rape and murder cold case
DECEMBER 3, 2023PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: FAMOUS TIK TOKER SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER
The District and Sessions Courts in Islamabad on November 30, 2023 awarded death penalty to a famous TikToker on charge of murder, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
DECEMBER 3, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 4 men executed in Birjand on December 3
Mohammad Naeimi Far (Brahui), Ahmad Shahoo-Zahi, Maziar Narooie, and Hamid Sarani
NOVEMBER 30, 2023BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: 7 SENTENCED TO DEATH OVER WAR CRIMES IN BAGERHAT
A tribunal has sentenced seven people to death for committing a series of crimes against humanity, including murder and rape, in Bagerhat during the 1971 Liberation War.
NOVEMBER 30, 2023PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH
An Attock court on November 29, 2023 sentenced a man to death in a murder case registered with Attock Sadsar police station in 2020.
NOVEMBER 29, 2023NigeriaDEATH PENALTYNIGERIA: NCOS BLAMES GOVERNORS FOR 5,000 INMATES AWAITING HANGMAN’S NOOSE FOR DECADES
At an Access to Justice in Nigeria parley, the Nigeria Correctional Service on November 7, 2023 raised issues over 5,000 inmates who have been sentenced to death by hanging but have waited for decades without their sentences being carried out.
NOVEMBER 29, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Moradkhan Geravand and Morad Biranvand executed in Khorramabad on November 29
NOVEMBER 28, 2023PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: GIRL EXECUTED BY HER OWN FAMILY IN HONOUR KILLING
An 18-year-old girl was allegedly killed by her own family after being sentenced to death by village elders for dancing with a boy in a viral social media video in Pakistan.
NOVEMBER 28, 2023BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING DAUGHTER IN SIRAJGANJ
A Sirajganj court on November 26, 2023 sentenced a young man to death for killing his daughter at Salanga upazila in the district in 2022.
NOVEMBER 27, 2023NigeriaDEATH PENALTYNIGERIA: COURT SENTENCES MAN TO DEATH FOR KILLING SEVEN DSS OFFICERS IN 2015
An Ikeja high court on November 21, 2023 sentenced two men over the death of seven officers of the Department of State Services (DSS).
NOVEMBER 27, 2023BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: YOUTH SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING WIFE, CHILD IN JHENIDAHA
Jhenidah court on November 27, 2023 sentenced a young man to death for killing his wife and child in 2016 at Shailkupa upazila in the district.
NOVEMBER 23, 2023TaiwanDEATH PENALTYTAIWAN: COP KILLER SENTENCED TO DEATH
A man convicted of stabbing two police officers to death in Tainan City last year has been given the death penalty.
NOVEMBER 23, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Milad Zohrevand secretly executed in Hamadan on November 23
A political prisoner
NOVEMBER 23, 2023Sri LankaDEATH PENALTYSRI LANKA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER
A 41-year-old accused who was found guilty for murdering a 52-year-old woman who lived alone in her house by stabbing with a screwdriver on November 22, 2023 was sentenced to death by the Colombo High Court.
NOVEMBER 22, 2023United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - BJS released its latest report for the year 2021
2,382 people were under sentence of death in 2021
NOVEMBER 21, 2023IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: KERALA CHILD RAPE-MURDER CONVICT SENTENCED TO DEATH
One hundred and ten days after a minor girl was brutally raped and killed in Kerala's Aluva, a special court in Kochi on November 14, 2023 sentenced a migrant worker to death
NOVEMBER 20, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Siamand Bukani (Ostwar) executed in Ardabil on November 20
NOVEMBER 20, 2023BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: 3 GET DEATH PENALTY, 2 LIFE IMPRISONMENT FOR SMUGGLING GOLD IN JASHORE
A Jashore court has sentenced three people to death, two to life-term imprisonment for smuggling 624 bars of gold across the Jashore border in Sharsha.
NOVEMBER 19, 2023MalaysiaDEATH PENALTYMALAYSIA: 95.8% DEATH ROW AND LIFE PRISON INMATES APPLIED FOR SENTENCE REVIEW AFTER MANDATORY DEATH PENALTY REMOVED
978 out of 1,020 death row and natural life imprisonment inmates have applied to have their sentence reviewed since Nov 9, said the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said on November 14, 2
NOVEMBER 17, 2023CaliforniaDEATH PENALTYUSA - California. Judge Michael Sweet has sentenced Salvador Vasquez-Oliva to death
For killing 4 of his family
NOVEMBER 16, 2023MalaysiaDEATH PENALTYMALAYSIA: APEX COURT COMMUTES DEATH PENALTY AND NATURAL-LIFE IMPRISONMENT OF 11 CONVICTED FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING
A total of 11 individuals convicted for drug trafficking became the first batch of inmates to have their death sentence and natural-life imprisonment commuted under the Revision of Sentence of Death and Imprisonment for Natural Life (Temporary Jurisdictio
NOVEMBER 16, 2023BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING MENTALLY CHALLENGED WOMAN AFTER RAPE
A court in Manikganj on November 15, 2023 sentenced a man to death on the charge of killing a mentally challenged woman after rape at Singair upazila in the district in 2019.
NOVEMBER 16, 2023AlabamaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Alabama. Casey McWhorter, 49, White, was executed
NOVEMBER 16, 2023TexasDEATH PENALTYUSA - Texas. David Renteria, 53, Hispanic, was executed
NOVEMBER 15, 2023BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING WIFE IN NATORE
A tribunal in Natore on November 15, 2023 convicted a man and sentenced him to death for killing his wife in 2018.
NOVEMBER 15, 2023TexasDEATH PENALTYUSA - Texas - Daryl Wheatfall gets resentenced to death after retrial
NOVEMBER 14, 2023ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: FORMER BANK CHIEF SENTENCED TO DEATH WITH REPRIEVE
Sun Deshun, former president of China CITIC Bank, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve on November 10, 2023 for accepting bribes.
NOVEMBER 13, 2023VietnamDEATH PENALTYVIETNAM: 18 SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING, INCLUDING FORMER KOREAN POLICEMAN
A former South Korean police officer and 17 other people in Ho Chi Minh City were sentenced to death on November 11, 2023 for trafficking over 216 kg of drugs.
NOVEMBER 13, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Three Baluch political prisoners executed in Zahedan on November 13
Mohammad Barahouyi Anjomani, Mohammad Karim Barkazayi Akson and Edris Bilrani